The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1887-03-11
sWORDFISH AND SHARK.
An Exciting Tale of the Deep Blue se..

What strange thing has come
athwart my hawser in the last
dozen years" unused Capt. Carnes
Of the brig Mary, as be shifted his
quid.
Well, I might tell you Of bit OF
adventure that happened to my vessel
one day among the Windward Islands
OF the Caribbean Sea.
We were Just to the east of the
group. and about fifteen miles away,
when there came a dead calm. The sea
vas like q mill pond, and the sun beat
down like a ball of fire.
" One Of the men, who was aloft for
something, discovered q large shark
prowling around the brig, and
gave the men permission to bait Tor
him.
They baited y hook and tempted
him, but re would not even smell Of
the pork. BE was a straight-out man
eater, and he wanted sailor or
nothing.
He made two or three circuits
about the vessel, his dOrsal fin showing
above water. .aand he then settled down
on our port quarter, about twenty feet
away, and kept his eyes fastened
on the heads of the men above the
rail.
Well. sir. there was something so
aggravating in that shark settling down
some Of US tumbled overheard.
that we all made up our minds
to drive him away after some
fashion.
We had a harpoon aboard, and
one Of the men used 1t to give the fish
several bad gashes, but after each wound
he'd make circuit and come back to
the old spot. You may rip shark from
stem to stern and he won't seem to mind
the hurt.
a By and by the men got so hot that
they asked leave to man the boat and
either kill the grim devil or drive him
away.
4 consented, and a sailor named
Williams scrambled into the yawl as
she swung at the davits to cast off when
she was down. The falls had scarcely
been manned when one of them
parted, and the boat dropped stern
down.
The sailor was pitched ten feet
away and as he struck the water there
was yell from every man on the brig.
He pitched right at the shark, and
we expected to see him grabbed up IN q
second.
" Indeed, we all saw the fish whirl
over and make a rush, but there was
also a second rush, and as the sailor
swan alongside and seized a rope a
terrible combat began in the water.
We knew that one Of the fighters was
the shark, but 1t was minutes before
we made out that the other was
swOrdfSh.
." 1 calculate that rumpus lasted all Of
fifteen minutes.
They fought on the surface and
under it. they c,rcled and came back,
they went under the brig and around
her, and the sea was churned to perfect
foam all the time.
THE affair finally ended by the shark
turning belly up, as dead as a hammer,
and I guess there wasn't foot of him
which hadn't felt a thrust OF the sword.
Hc bl-d like a stuck hog, and was only
fairly dead whom the sworddsh took q
run for the brig.
" He backed off about fifty feet and
came full tilt, and, as true as I'm sit
ting here, he made her shiver as he
struck. That sword of his struck good
oak plank, sheathed with copper, but
nothing stopped it until it showed for
six inches in the hold. We saw him as
he backed off, and knew that he had
lost his weapon.
90 1t was a terrible hurt, and when a
breeze spraug up and filed our sails he
was still ilOundering around the sharks
body, seeming to have lost his compass
points altogether.
'' On the way down to Trinidad the
brig made considerable water, and when
we came to unload her cargo we found
the sword sticking into her as / have
told you.
4 portion of It was afterward car
ried to Boston, and is probably there
vet